EDUCATION:University of Southern California, undergraduate course work
Art Center College of Design, B.F.A. in Illustration
New York University, M.F.A. in Studio Art
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
California State University Los Angeles, 2023 - present
Los Angeles Valley College, Professor of Art, 2009 - 2023
University of Southern California, Lecturer, 2021 - 2022
Scripps College, Visiting Assistant Professor in Painting, 2014 - 2015
East Los Angeles College, Adjunct Professor in Art History and Drawing, 2003 - 2009
Art Center College of Design, Adjunct Professor in Figure Drawing and Painting, 2001 - 2008
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Return Home, Luis De Jesus Gallery Los Angeles, June - August 2024
Phung Huynh: Donut (W)hole, Payson Library Exhibit Gallery at Pepperdine University, May - September 2023
Don't Call me FOB, Luis De Jesus Gallery Los Angeles, November - December 2022
Sobrevivir: Phung Huynh, Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, September 2022 - February 2023
Donut W(h)ole, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, March – May 2022
Phung Huynh, The Billboard Creative, artwork featured on billboard through the arts non- profit, The Billboard Creative, Los Angeles (Santa Monica Boulevard, near the Hollywood Freeway), April 5 – 30, 2021
Gyre, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Museum at California State University, Long Beach, February - March 2020
Resistance Aunties, Center for Creativity and the Arts at Fresno State University, February 2020
Pretty Hurts, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, April 2017
Disorientation, Sam Lee Gallery, Chinatown, Los Angeles, March 2009
Postcard Paintings, Sam Lee Gallery, Project Space, Chinatown, Los Angeles, December 2007
Recent Works, Middle Tennessee State University, September 2003
Illustrations, McCaig-Welles Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, June 2002
Recent Works, Sweeney Art Gallery (University of California, Riverside), February 2002
The Fortune Cookie Works, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, July 2001
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Memory and Migration, University of Texas San Antonio Art Gallery, forthcoming (fall 2025)
Against Monoculture, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Museum, September – December, 2024
Vault Show, The University of Arizona Museum of Art, May - September 2024
PLACE: Reckonings by Asian American Artists, Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, March –
August 2024
Vietnam in Transition: 1976 – Present, Wende Museum, April – October 2023
Collective Memory Installation, hosted at Grand Park by the Los Angeles County Department of
Arts and Culture, February – March 2023
Making Home: Artists and Immigration, Asia Society Texas, Houston, February – July, 2022
Upon Closer Inspection, The University Gallery, School of Art and Design, San Diego State University, February 2021
Conexion, Mexico City and Los Angeles, July – August 2020
We Are Here: Contemporary Art and Asian Voices in Los Angeles, USC Pacific Asia Museum, March 2020
Census Atelier, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, January – February 2020
Perceive Me, Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery at California State University Los Angeles, January 2020
Breaking Bread in L.A., Oxy Arts (community arts hub of Occidental College), Los Angeles, November 2019
Made in Asian America, Art Salon Chinatown, Los Angeles, May – July 2019
Utopia/Dystopia, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, April 2019
Time and Space: 144 Hours of Ink, Cerritos College Art Gallery, October - November 2018
Painting in the 21st Century, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, September - October 2018
Sewing Circle, Seaver Gallery, Los Angeles, September 2018
SHe, Launch LA, Los Angeles, September 2018
Here Now: Four Los Angeles Artists, José Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mount Saint Mary’s University, January 2018
Hot Time, Summer in the City, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, July 2017
The Time We Make, Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery, November, 2016
Summer Reverie, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, July 2016
An Odyssey: 10 Years of the Torrance Art Museum, Torrance Art Museum, September 2015
American Immigrant Stories, Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, September 2015
Inaugural Group Show, Minan Gallery, Ventura, California, July 2015
Faculty Show, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, 2014
L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments, Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles, 2014
Transit Way, Rio Hondo College Art Gallery, 2014
Translations: Artists of the Metro Orange Line, Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery, 2012
(de)Constructing Chinatown, Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles, 2012
Telephone, Torrance Art Museum, 2012
Faculty Makes, Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery, 2011
Psychic Outlaws, Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, 2010
Global Hybrid, MetaHouse Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2010
Ascending Dragon: Contemporary Vietnamese Artists, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, 2010
Global Hybrid II, Hancock University Art Center, Long Beach, CA, 2010
Fresh!, Silent Auciton at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2009
Art in Embassies Program, among selected artists to exhibit at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia during the tenure of Ambassador Carol Rodley, 2009 –2012
COLLECTIONS AND COMMISSIONS:
Artwork included in the following collections:
Private collections in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Cambodia
The Community Redevelopment Agency, Los Angeles before its dissolution
Dallas Museum of Art
Escalette Collection at Chapman University
The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Art Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
USC Pacific Asia Museum
The Vincent Price Art Museum
University of Arizona Museum of Art
Art Commissions:
California Department of Education, artwork for Cambodian American Studies curriculum, 2024
Metro (Century City/ Constellation Boulevard station on the Purple Line), 2022 - 2025
Toyota, 2022
Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, 2019 – 2022
LA for All- The Art of Belonging, Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, 2021
Metro Silver Linings Poster Series, 2020
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Mask-Making Project for Midnight Mission, 2020
Mural for Roy Choi’s restaurant, Best Friend at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, 2018
Album cover for Rocky Rivera’s third studio rap album, Rocky’s Revenge, 2018
Metro (El Monte station on the Silver Line), 2013
Los Angeles Zoo (Elephants of Asia Exhibit), 2010
Metro (Neighborhood Poster Series, Alhambra), 2007
Metro (Laurel Canyon station on the Orange Line), 2006
Rolling Stone Magazine, 2006
American Airlines, 2006
Ohio Wesleyan University, 2005
Pennsylvania Gazette (University of Pennsylvania), 2005
PRESS:
Noel Alumit, “Reuniting Buddha’s Head and Body,” Lion’s Roar, May 31, 2024
David M.Roth, “Asian-American ‘Reckonings’ @ ICA San Jose,” Square Cylinder Northern
California, May 17, 2024
Joshua Glass, “The Vietnamese American Artists Searching for Identity: Postwar refugees who’ve used their art to express complicated feelings of loss and home,” T Magazine (The New York Times Style Magazine),
June 23, 2023
Art and Activism, Full Frame, China Global Television Network, 2023
Dolly Li, “Phung Huynh: The Khmerican Donut Kid Experience,” KCET Artbound, documentary
video, 2022
Carolina Miranda, “A new monument at L.A.’s county hospital marks a dark history of coerced sterilization,” L.A. Times, August 6, 2022
Carren Jao, “Beautiful Strength: ‘Sobrevivir’ Pays Homage to the Women Coerced to Sterilization in 1960s and ‘70s L.A.,” KCET, July 19, 2022
Steve Scauzillo, “Somber artwork unveiled at LAC + USC Medical Center, an apology for coerced sterilization in 1968 – 1974,” Los Angeles Daily News, July 11, 2022
Anabel Munoz, “’Sobrevivir’ Art Installation Recognizes Past Coerced Sterilizations at LAC + USC Medical Center,” ABC News, July 12, 2022
Gitanjali Mahapatra and Nate Perez, “LA County-USC Medical Center Unveils Artwork Apologizing to Women Forcibly Sterilized There,” LAist and NPR, July 12, 2022
NBC 4 News, “Saying Sorry for Past History of Coerced Sterilizations,” July 12, 2022
“Phung Huynh uses pink donut boxes for her artwork,” LA Unscripted, KTLA, May 16, 2022
Elaine Quijano, “Artist and podcaster describe the Cambodian-American refugee experience,” CBS News with anchor Elaine Quijano, May 11, 2022
Elaine Quijano, “How doughnut shops became a sweet American Dream,” CBS Sunday Morning show, May 8, 2022
Robin Estrin, “Donut (W)hole: Meet kids of Cambodian immigrants and refugees,” KCRW, Greater LA, April 13, 2022
Eric Resendiz, “Art exhibit in Boyle Heights honors ‘donut kids,’ Cambodian immigrant community,” ABC Channel 7 News, April 1, 2022
Cathy Chaplin, “This Southeast Asian Artist Uses Iconic Pink Doughnut Boxes as a Canvas For Storytelling,” Eater LA, March 30, 2022
Neda Ulaby, “Pink donut boxes are canvas for artist portraying kids of Cambodia-Americanrefugees,” NPR, March 22, 2022
Carren Jao, “Artist Captures the Khmerican Donut Kid Experience,” KCET, March 10, 2022
Matt Stromberg and Elisa Wouk Almino, “Your Concise Los Angeles Art Guide for March 2022,” Hyperallergic, February 28, 2022
Jennifer Tanaka, “How the teaching of art and language helps knit together diverse SoCal populations,” The Orange County Register, October 5, 2021
Nadra Nittle, “Socio-Political Art is Popping Up on Billboards Across L.A. Here’s What They’re About,” KCET, April 14, 2021
Richard Guzman, “Look up! This Los Angeles billboard exhibition will make your commute more artistic,” Daily News, April 2, 2021
Katy Cowan, “The Billboard Creative turns LA’s famous billboards into giant outdoor galleries,” Creative Boom, March 15, 2021
Romeo Guzman, Carribean Fragoza, Alex Sayf Cummings, and Ryan Reft editors of East of East: The Making of
Greater El Monte, Rutgers University Press, 2020
Genie Davis, “SHe: Fierce and Feminine,” Art and Cake, September 23, 2018
Nancy Kay Turner, “The Sewing Circle: Feminine Narratives,” Art and Cake, September 18, 2018
Oeuvre Unlimited, web-based platform that promotes the works of artists on an international scale
through filmed interviews, 2018
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, 2018 Calendar and Cultural Guide, presented by Mayer Eric Garcetti and the
City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
New American Paintings, Spring 2018
Costa, Mary Grace, “APAHM 2018: Artist Phung Huynh Explores the ‘In-Betweenness of Being Asian American,’” Kore
Asian Media, May 1, 2018
Berson, Nina, “Immigration and Artistry,” Mount News, Mount Saint Mary University, March 1, 2018
Matt Stromberg, “How Art is Helping Southern California Prisoners Reconnect with Their Humanity,”
LA Weekly, September 1, 2017
Annabel Osberg, “Pick of the Week: Hot Time, Summer in the City,” Artillery Magazine, August 16, 2017
Genie Davis, “Phung Huynh and Osvaldo Trujillo at CB1,” Art and Cake, May 28, 2017
Miranda, Carolina A., “Datebook: A Saudi artist mulls terrorism, vivid abstractions and paintings that pick apart
beauty standards,” Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2017
Studio Visit Magazine, Winter edition, 2016
Featured artist on Los Angeles Review of Books, February 2016
Carribean Fragoza, "Murals at El Monte Station: Phung Huynh," KCET, East of East, October 28, 2014
Annie Buckley, “LA Heat,” artforum.com, Critics’ Picks, July 2014
Jennifer Swan, “7 Secret Sriracha Recipes YouCan Only Find at L.A.’s Hot Sauce Art Show, LA Weekly, March 24, 2014
Steven Cuevas, “In ‘L.A. Heat’ Art Exhibit, Sriracha and Tapatio Form Holy Union of Hot Sauce,” KQED California
report, March 21 – 23, 2014
Carren Jao, “Hot Stuff: L.A.’s Cross-Cultural Condiments,” KCET Artbound, March 19, 2014
Javier Cabral, “’L.A. Heat’: Finally, an art exhibit devoted to Sriracha and Tapatio sauces,” Los Angeles Times, March 15,
2014
Steven Wong, LA Heat: Taste Changing Condiments, Chinese American Museum, catalog, 2014
Annie Buckley, “On Perception: Slowing Down to See,” The Huffington Post, 2013
Alissa Walker, “How Do You Capture the San Fernando Valley Through Art?” LA Weekly, November 6, 2012
Steven Wong, (de)Constructing Chinatown, Chinese American Museum, catalog, 2012
Homage to American Women Artists, calendar produced by United States Embassy, Global Publishing Solutions, 2011
Telephone, Torrance Art Museum, catalog, 2011
Art In Embassies Exhibition, United States Embassy Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Global Publishing Solutions, September
2010
Peter Frank, “Blague d’Art: Out There,” The Huffington Post, June 16, 2010
GRANTS:
2024 Los Angeles Artadia Award and 2024 Marciano Art Foundation Artadia Awardee
California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship, 2022
California Arts Council Individual Established Artist Fellowship, State of California, 2021- 2022
COLA Individual Artist Fellowship, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, 2021
Davyd Whaley Mid-Career Artist grant, Davyd Whaley Foundation, 2018
AWARDS:
2023 Women of Impact Award Honoree, California Assemblymember Mike Fong, 2023
“Enriching Lives” County of Los Angeles Commendation, granted by Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Hilda Solis, 2022
Community Artist Honoree, USC Pacific Asia Museum, May 2022
Semifinalist, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2022, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Certificate of Recognition, granted by Congresswoman Judy Chu, 2022
Cultural Trailblazer Artist, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, 2020
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month honoree, City of Los Angeles, Certificate of Recognition, Councilmember David E. Ryu, Mayor Eric Garcetti, in conjunction with Kore Asian Media, 2018 Cultural Trailblazer Artist, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, 2018
Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, Congresswoman Linda T. Sanchez, 2012
Art in Embassies Program, among selected artists to exhibit at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia during the tenure of Ambassador Carol Rodley, 2009 –2012
Certificate of Recognition, granted by Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, 2009
Certificate of Recognition, granted by Congressman Xavier Becerra, 2008
Certificate of Recognition, granted by Congressman Xavier Becerra, 2007
Certificate of Recognition, granted by Congressman Xavier Becerra, 2006
Certificate of Recognition, Tennessee Arts Academy, granted by Governor Phil Bredesen, 2004
Award of Excellence, Illustration Annual, Communication Arts, 2002
Communication Arts 2002
Communication Arts 2001
New American Paintings, 2001
Curriculum Vitae
Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator with a practice in drawing, painting, public art, and community engagement. Her work explores cultural perception and representation. Huynh challenges beauty standards by constructing images of the Asian female body vis-à-vis plastic surgery to unpack how contemporary cosmetic surgery can whitewash cultural and racial identity. Her work of drawings and prints on pink donut boxes explores the complexities of assimilation and cultural negotiation among Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees who have resettled in the United States. Phung Huynh has had solo exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills and the Sweeney Art Gallery at the University of California, Riverside. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including spaces such as the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has also completed public art commissions for the Metro Orange Line, Metro Silver Line, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. Phung Huynh is Assistant Professor of Art at California State University Los Angeles where her focus is on serving disproportionately impacted students. She has served as Chair of the Public Art Commission for the city of South Pasadena and Chair of the Prison Arts Collective Advisory Council, which supports arts programming in California state prisons. She served on the Board of Directors for LA Más, a non-profit organization that serves BIPOC working class immigrant communities in Northeast Los Angeles. Huynh completed undergraduate coursework at the University of Southern California, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with distinction from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and received her Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University. She is a recipient of the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship, the California Arts Council Individual Established Artist Fellowship, the California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship, and the Marciano Art Foundation Artadia Award. Phung Huynh is Assistant Professor of Art at California State University Los Angeles, and she is represented by Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
My work investigates notions of cultural identity from a kaleidoscopic perspective, a continual shift of idiosyncratic translations and slippage. The contemporary American landscape is where I explore how cultural tropes are imported, disassembled, and then reconstructed. In an overwhelmingly diverse metropolis such as Los Angeles, images flood our social lens, taking on multiple [mis]interpretations. Becoming American cannot be painted in broad strokes. It is a personal experience that is complicated, messy, and certainly not easy. Understanding my family’s living history as refugees from both Vietnam and Cambodia and inspired by research and interviews with people with a shared history, I try to uncover the complex layers of cultural assimilation and forging new identities. It is more than just donuts and pink boxes. It is about being able to tell our own stories before they are told for us. It is about sharing our humanity when we are veiled by inhumanity.
Photograph by Ken Gonzales-Day
PHUNG HUYNH